Paisleys and Posies with a Buggy Twist

Paisleys and Posies with a Buggy Twist

The Paisleys and Posies stamp set is one of my favorites and I haven’t used it in awhile. I have no good excuses for this. For today’s card I matched it up with some of my favorite insect stamps and dies for a fun, Spring feel.

Though Paisleys and Posies came out with the holiday catalog last year, it is a great stamp set year round. It makes a great stylized background for floral cards and I love to stamp patterned backgrounds with these stamps. These detailed backgrounds take awhile to make, but once you get in the groove the process is so relaxing!

A Buggy Goodbye

I snuck in a couple of extras surprises in my patterned background this time. Amidst the paisleys you will see some insects hiding. These are from the Beetles and Bugs stamp set, which is sadly retiring. You may not like real life creepy crawlies… but as a stamp set these bugs are just great. I had to use at least one more time.

You can still get Beetles and Bugs and other retiring items until the end of May, but supplies may be limited, so act fast!

World’s Easiest Stained Glass Technique

I see the stained glass technique pop up every once in awhile, and it seems like every time someone uses it they say things like, “This took forever,” and “Don’t try this at home.” This is probably because they are trying to glue in all the tiny little pieces one at a time. I’m here to say that it does not have to be like this. There is a better way. An easier, much faster way. You’ll love it.

I first posted about this technique when I made a black and gold butterfly card, and my process photos come from that original card. The process is the exact same for my Paisleys and Posies card today.

Cut out a Basic Black butterfly outline using the Butterfly Framelits. Discard the tiny pieces.

Place the black butterfly outline on a solid black piece of cardstock.

Trace a rough pencil line around the outer edge of the butterfly.

Remove the black butterfly.

Fill in the pencil outline completely with snail adhesive. Cover every millimeter. You can see the pencil and adhesive best in Figure 2, below.

Place the black butterfly outline back on the solid cardstock. Press down so it sticks to the adhesive.

Cut out another of the Butterfly Framelit shapes, this time from a blended background or gold foil paper. Try to keep all the little pieces inside the die. Do NOT poke them out!

Place the entire die with all the pieces in it directly on top of your black butterfly outline. Line it up carefully.

With a small tool, poke the little hole pieces out of the die, all the way down until they stick to the adhesive on the background paper. See Figure 1 below.

Figure 1: Pushing pieces through the die.

If your tool is sharp, press gently so it doesn’t poke little holes in your butterfly pieces. Go slowly. Check that all the pieces were poked down.

Slowly remove the die. Slowly peel off the gold outline, making sure it doesn’t peel off any of the small pieces with it. The small pieces will stick to the adhesive in the background, as in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Pieces will stick to the adhesive on the background paper.

Burnish the butterfly to make sure that the little pieces are stuck down really well.

Cut off the excess background paper by following the edge of the die cut black butterfly outline.

I did have three or four pieces that didn’t stay in the die in my example photos and I had to add these by hand after I was finished. Adding just a few tiny puzzle pieces was much preferable to trying to glue down about a hundred. Some of the pieces may also need slight adjusting so they sit perfectly.

After cutting, check the back of a die to make sure that it cut all the way through. If it didn’t cut all the way through, run it through your machine again, perhaps in a slightly different position in relation to the rollers or add a piece of cardstock to make your sandwich fatter.

Here’s the finished gold and black card, in case you are curious.

Paisleys and Posies Card Directions

On a piece of white cardstock, blend Bermuda Bay, Lemon Lime Twist, and Daffodil Delight ink. (If you don’t have Lemon Lime Twist yet, you can actually just skip it, because Bermuda Bay and Daffodil Delight mix to make a lime green anyway.)

Using the directions above for the World’s Easiest Stained Glass Technique, create a stained glass butterfly with your blended background.

Cut a Bermuda Bay card base.

Then cut a piece of Urban Underground Designer Series Paper 1/4″ (0.6 cm) smaller than the card base.

On the Whisper White cardstock, stamp a pattern with Paisleys and Posies stamps with Bermuda Bay. If desired, add in some super cool insects using Beetles and Bugs stamps. Start with the largest shapes first, then slowly fill in the space with gradually smaller shapes.

Adhere the Urban Underground and Paisley layers to the cardbase at a slight angle. (Some people don’t like crooked layers. If that’s you, straighten ’em out! No one will blame you.)

Die cut a Bermuda Bay circle shape using Stitched Shapes Framelits.

Wrap Basic Black Solid Baker’s Twine around the card three times. Tie it on the inside of the card.

Crease the stained glass butterfly on either side of its body so the wings stick up but the body is still flat. Add glue dots or tiny pieces of dimensionals to the flat part of the body.

Attach a small coil of silver metallic thread to the adhesives on the butterfly’s body. Then adhere the butterfly to the Bermuda Bay circle.

Attach the Bermuda Bay circle to the card using dimensionals. Make sure to use extra dimensionals right under the butterfly’s body for extra support.

Top Trending Color Combination

I think Bermuda Bay and Lemon Lime Twist were made for each other. These two colors form the basis for a plethora of tropical and summery color schemes.

Since Lemon Lime Twist is so new, these two colors have been a very popular pairing as of late (with Berry Burst, Basic Black, and others). I made this card before I knew quite how trendy they would be together, but now I’m jumping on the bandwagon! Why? Because these colors are totally awesome together.

4 thoughts on “Paisleys and Posies with a Buggy Twist”

Oh my gosh! This is SO cute!! I must confess that I missed the background bugs at first glance – Love it!! I suspect our new adhesive sheets (coming in June) will make this stained glass technique even easier! Thanks again for your wonderful tips and directions!